Migration from Dendrite

Zendrite is a fork of Dendrite. If you are running an existing Dendrite installation, follow the steps below to migrate to Zendrite.

Binary name

The binary has been renamed from dendrite to zendrite. Update any systemd unit files, scripts, or process managers that reference the old binary name.

Config file

The default config file path changed from dendrite.yaml to zendrite.yaml. If zendrite.yaml is not found, Zendrite will automatically fall back to dendrite.yaml and log a warning. You can also pass the path explicitly:

zendrite --config dendrite.yaml

Renaming the file to zendrite.yaml is recommended to silence the warning.

The sample config file is now named zendrite-sample.yaml.

Admin API endpoints

All admin API endpoints changed prefix from /_dendrite/ to /_zendrite/. Update any scripts, monitoring, or tooling that calls these endpoints.

For example:

• /_dendrite/admin/evacuateRoom/{roomID} → /_zendrite/admin/evacuateRoom/{roomID}
• /_dendrite/admin/registrationTokens → /_zendrite/admin/registrationTokens

Metrics endpoint

The Prometheus metrics endpoint moved from /_dendrite/metrics to /_zendrite/metrics. Update your Prometheus scrape config or monitoring dashboards accordingly.

JetStream topic prefix

The default topic_prefix in the JetStream config changed from Dendrite to Zendrite. If you are using the built-in NATS server (the default), the existing NATS data stored under the old prefix will be ignored.

You have two options:

1. Fresh start (recommended): Delete the old JetStream data directory and let Zendrite recreate the streams. Pending events in the old streams will be lost, but the streams will be recreated from the database on startup.
2. Keep old prefix: Set topic_prefix: Dendrite in your config file to continue using existing streams.

Docker

The Docker image user and paths changed:

• Container user: dendrite → zendrite
• Config volume: /etc/dendrite → /etc/zendrite
• Binary path: /usr/bin/dendrite → /usr/bin/zendrite

Update any Docker Compose files or container orchestration configs that mount volumes or reference these paths.

Environment variables

The DENDRITE_TRACE_HTTP environment variable has been renamed to ZENDRITE_TRACE_HTTP. The old name is still accepted for backwards compatibility.

Database

The database schema is automatically migrated on first startup. Zendrite renames the internal dendrite_version column in the db_migrations table to zendrite_version — no manual intervention is required.